Why are we still in Afghanistan? PennLive letters

America is good at fighting wars, but not so good at occupying the terrain once we've taken it.

My cousin Frank tells an interesting story. He was in Vietnam in 1969-70. It seems one day he was walking patrol down a road somewhere in War Zone D when a bunch of Vietnamese kids appeared in back of the formation flying a big red kite. Frank was of the opinion that the kids were using the kite to give away his platoon's position.

Maybe he was right. Not long ago, I read that a candidate in Afghanistan's recent election said if he were elected the children of Afghanistan would be free again to fly kites.

I don't know why we're still in Afghanistan. I know we're reducing the size of our occupation forces to 10,000 troops. But that could change after 2016. It's time to stand down.